Astana Arlans to battle for pride and $500,000 purse in the WSB finals

19 april 2011, 16:35

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Kazakhstan team the Astana Arlans advanced to the WSB (World Series of Boxing) finals, the Astana Arlans reports.

The Kazakhstan team boxing team lead by head coach Beibut Yeszhanov won 3:2 over the Los Angeles Matadors in the semifinals at the Music Box Theatre in Hollywood, Calif on Sunday, April 17. Before the match the Matadors used to be undefeated at home where they enjoy a tremendous home-field advantage.

In the first fight of the match bantamweight Kanat Abutalipov beat Argentinian Fernando Martinez. The score than was evened by Erick Flores (61 kg) winning over lightweight Yerzhan Mussafirov.

In the next fight the Los Angeles Matadors came forward with middleweight Chris Pearson's victory over Bakhyt Sarsekbayev.

In the final heavyweight fight Istvan Bernat prevailed over Javier Torres and brought the semifinals victory to the Kazakhstan team.

In the WSB’s playoff format, each semifinalist faces their opponent once at home and once away in the league’s five weight classes, each time with a different squad.

In the first semi-final in Astana the Astana Arlans beat the Los Angeles Matadors 4:1. A 2007 World Championships competitor with a 3-2 record on the season Merei Akshakov, 2008 Olympic bronze winner and 2009 World Championships bronze winter with a 3-1 WSB record Kanat Slam, 2009 World Championships quarterfinalist with a 3-1 record Ramzjon Akhmedov and 2008 Olympian that comes into his playoff bout with a 3-1 record Ruslan Myrsatayev won the 4 matches for the Astana Arlans.

Kazakhstan team the Astana Arlans will be playing against the Paris United from France in the WSB finals. The final fights will be held in Guiyang, China on May 6 and 7. Half a million dollar title of WSB Champion 2010-2011 is at stake.